"CRUMB" I'm not a Robert Crumb fan, but I like documentaries.
They talk to members of his family and ask them about his history. And you
gradually realize that there's extreme psycho logical disturbance in all
of the family members. And the movie emerges with this beautiful portrait
of how dysfunction turns into art out of necessity, as a coping mechanism.
I've never seen it portrayed so perfectly.

"E!'s TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORIES" Whoever it is, even if I've
never heard of them. Rags to riches to rags -- you can't beat it.

"SECRET LIFE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY," BY MICHAEL RYAN; "DRINKING:
A LOVE STORY," BY CAROLINE KNAPP The first one is a book about
sexual addiction, and the second one is about alcoholism. I learned so much
about the nature of addiction and the nature of cause and effect --especially
from Secret Life, which is about this guy who was molested when he was five
and how it informed everything he did in his life after that. It's sort
of like Crumb, except in this case, this is what happens when it doesn't
come out in art.

COMEDY NIGHTS AT LARGO It's a club in L.A. where Michael [Penn] and
I have been playing on Tuesdays. On Mondays they have comedians like Patton
Oswalt, Andy Kindler, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, who often
do our banter for us. We figure, "Hire a professional. Why do it yourself?"

Several Aimee Mann songs appear on the "Magnolia"soundtrack;
her new album, "Bachelor No. 2," is due in March.
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Compiled by Jenny Eliscu